Now What?

Loveliness

So, a while ago I started memorizing Scripture.  Not for a truly spiritual reason, but because I’m over fifty and can’t remember jack.  But God’s Word has a way of getting to you, drawing you closer to Him, and making you able to hear His voice.  I was hoping it would help me retain my cognitive skills that my kids keep reminding me I seem to be losing.  Instead it gives me comfort and peace – I’ll take it!  One of the first psalms I memorized was Psalm 84:

How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!

 My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. 

The bird also has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young.  Even Your alters, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

 How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!  They are ever praising You. 

How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion!

 Passing through the valley of weeping they make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with blessings.  They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion. 

O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed.

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.  I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!

 Today while I was looking at this one, that first phrase – How lovely are Your dwelling places – struck me.  The writer was talking about the temple of the day.  He was exulting in the beauty of the temple – a beautiful place, because God dwelled there.  He waxes poetic over the bird nesting in the altar.

 Now I like to read my Bible and talk to the Lord under my deck on a swing surrounded by the flowers and various plants my husband has encouraged to grow there.  There is a robin’s nest in the rafters of the deck in front of and above my swing.  Robins are resourceful birds.  I really like robins – they’re faithful.  They know Spring is coming when snow is still on the ground.  They build their nests anywhere, and they aren’t afraid to sing in the rain.  I’m pretty sure this robin thinks I’m in her space, but when I’m alone on my swing she comes over looks at me with one of her eyes and sits on her nest.  She’s calm and at peace and not too worried about me.  When one of my boys decides to join me on the swing to let me know the latest offense of one of his brothers, she flies off indignant and squawking.  Her peace has been disrupted.  She’ll sit on the fence post and squawk until my boy goes back into the house.  It’s cute and funny.  That bird has strong opinions about who can be around her nest.  I’m honored to be her guest.

 The bird in the psalm is in a safe place made beautiful because of the Lord’s presence.  All it can do in response is sing His praises. 

God doesn’t dwell in a building any more.  Now He resides in His people.  As a believer, I am one of His dwelling places. He calls me lovely.

How can that be?  1 Corinthians 6:19-20:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

 For you have been bought with a price:  therefore glorify God in your body.

            He calls me lovely.  The Hebrew word used there can be translated lovely or amiable.

 Lovely – charmingly or exquisitely beautiful; having a beauty that appeals to the heart or mind as well as to the eye; delightful, highly pleasing; of a great moral or spiritual beauty.

Amiable – having or showing good-natured personal qualities, affable; friendly, sociable; agreeable, willing to accept the wishes, actions or decisions of others.

Did you notice in the psalm that the lovely dwelling place is a sanctuary for that mama bird.  Some place she can build her nest, bring up young, and sing God’s praises.  You get the impression that God’s house is a place of peace, security – a place to sing praises.  The definitions for lovely and amiable fit that kind of place, but my life doesn’t always fit those definitions.

I’d like to think that one of the reasons my robin is at peace to sit on her nest when I am on my swing is because she can sense His presence with me – and that it is lovely.  The presence of God in me giving others peace, causing them to sing praises – that could be an evidence of His loveliness in me.

Loveliness is a substantial responsibility.  I don’t think loveliness comes naturally, but the Holy Spirit makes that transformation – the lovely dwelling place.  It’s not something I can accomplish on my own.  The transformation of an earthen vessel to a vessel for honor – it’s a God thing.  Like sanctification, working out our salvation – it’s a process. 

            I want to be lovely.  I want to be His dwelling place.  I want to provoke peace and praises in those who come into my presence.  I want to be a vessel He can use.

            The psalmist wraps up his message about the lovely dwelling place by exclaiming:  How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!  They are ever praising You.

How blessed can be translated Oh, how happy – not only do I get to be lovely; I get to be happy too! 

There are two more how blessed or Oh, how happy phrases in that psalm:

How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, and how blessed is the man who trusts in You!

            It sounds right to me that He dwelling in me makes me lovely.  Because of that God-generated loveliness, what can I do but be oh so happy to sing His praises, trust Him and be strong because of Him.

            For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

He makes me unafraid to sing in the rain.